THE USER E XPERIENCE TE AM OF ONE A Research and Design Survival Guide by
Leah Buley
Foreword by Stephen Anderson
The User Experience Team of One A RESEARCH AND DESIGN SURVIVAL GUIDE
Leah Buley
Rosenfeld Media Brooklyn, New York
The User Experience Team of One A Research and Design Survival Guide By Leah Buley
Rosenfeld Media, LLC 457 Third Street, #4R Brooklyn, New York 11215 USA
On the Web: www.rosenfeldmedia.com Please send errors to:
[email protected]
Publisher: Louis Rosenfeld Developmental Editor: Marta Justak Interior Layout: Danielle Foster Cover Design: The Heads of State Cover Illustrator: Josh Cochran Indexer: Sharon Shock Proofreader: Sue Boshers
© 2013 Leah Buley All Rights Reserved ISBN: 1-933820-18-7 ISBN-13: 978-1-933820-18-7 LCCN: 2013939951
Printed and bound in the United States of America
For Theo and Chris, my boy and my man.
How to Use This Book Who Should Read This Book? While many people are attracted to the field of user experience because they want to be champions for users, simply loving users doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be a successful user experience team of one. UX teams of one are people who love users and also make sure that designs get tested, business people’s questions are answered, design problems receive an appropriate amount of creative exploration, UX specifications are implemented according to plan, the product is continually monitored and improved upon, and support for UX is ever growing. And they do it all without a roadmap or a blueprint, with the help of people who may or may not be active supporters of UX themselves. This book is for anyone who is interested in taking on the challenging and rewarding work of spreading a user-centered mindset to new places where it’s never been before. While this book is intended to be approachable for anyone who picks it up, it was written with two particular audiences in mind.
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One core audience for this book is people who are already working on product teams in another role but are interested in transitioning into the field of UX. If that sounds like you, that may mean that you’ve never thought of yourself as a UX professional before, and you’re interested in crossing over into the field, either as a main role or part of an adjacent role. For this type of reader, Chapters 1 and 2 are a must.
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Another core audience for this book is more experienced practitioners who are seeking ways to work more effectively within a cross-functional team. For this type of reader, Chapters 3 and 4 are highly recommended.
What’s in This Book? The user experience team of one ethos is equal parts philosophy and practice (see Figure 0.1). It focuses on having the right attitude, seeking out opportunities, being patient and inclusive, and doing the best work you can. Between philosophy and practice, I’ll cover not just guiding principles, but also the nuts and bolts of how to successfully run a UX project as a team of one.
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Accordingly, this book is organized in two parts: Part I is philosophy, and Part II is practice.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES • ATTITUDE • PERSPECTIVE
Figure 0.1 Being a successful UX team of one is equal parts thought and action, head and hand, METHODS • TECH